What are craters on the Moon caused by?

Craters are the most common surface features on many solid planets and moons—Mercury and our Moon are covered with craters. This portion of the Moon is covered by numerous circular holes. These are impact craters, each of which was formed when an asteroid or comet collided with the Moon’s surface.

What is the evidence for volcanism on the Moon?

Lava plains They are the most obvious volcanic features on the Moon, appearing as dark topographic features when seen with the naked eye. Many tend to cover the floors of large impact basins and are therefore typically circular in outline, with some smaller maria filling the bottoms of impact craters.

What are rays and rilles on the Moon?

What are lunar rilles? What are rays? Lunar rilles formed from lava flows or when bed rock craked as it cooled and shrunk. Rays are long, light streaks of pulverized rocks radiating outward from craters.

What are the rilles found on the Moon quizlet?

Lunar rilles are river-like valleys and were most likely formed when lava flowed on the lunar surface. What are rays. Light streaks of pulverized rock radiating outward from craters.

How are impact craters formed?

Craters produced by the collision of a meteorite with the Earth (or another planet or moon) are called impact craters. The high-speed impact of a large meteorite compresses, or forces downward, a wide area of rock. The pressure pulverizes the rock.

How are impact craters different from volcanic craters?

Volcanic craters may have a cone or flanks associated with the crater. There may also be flows present. Impact craters may have central peaks, ejecta, raised rims and floors that are lower in elevation than the surrounding terrain that can distinguish them from volcanic craters.

Does Earth’s Moon have volcanoes?

Unlike Earth, the Moon has no active volcanoes despite the fact that recent moonquake data suggest that there is a lot of magma under its surface.

What is the meaning of rilles?

rille, any of various valleys or trenches on the surface of the Moon. The term was introduced by early telescopic observers—probably by the German astronomer Johann Schröter about 1800—to denote such lunar features. The word rima (from Latin, “fissure”) is often used for the same kind of features.

How are straight rilles formed on the Moon?

Next, we can explore straight rilles, which are thought to have formed due to tectonic forces. These valleys are graben, which form when the surface pulls apart under extensional stresses, and a block of the crust drops down to create the valley floor.

How are lunar rilles formed?

A rille is a long and narrow valley on the Moon and appears to have been formed by subsidence or collapse of surface materials along a crustal fracture (Baldwin 1968), which could be ascribed to the thermal and mechanical erosion, construction, and volatiles between the basement surface and a surficial permafrost layer …

How are volcanic craters formed?

A volcanic crater is the circular surface depression caused by volcanic activity, usually on the summit or flank of a volcano. Craters are built by the accumulation of lava and pyroclastic material around an open vent or pipe, or explosive ejection of lava and pyroclastics from a volcano.

Are moon craters the result of volcanoes or impacts?

A crater is a bowl-shaped depression, or hollowed-out area, produced by the impact of a meteorite, volcanic activity, or an explosion. Craters produced by the collision of a meteorite with the Earth (or another planet or moon) are called impact craters.

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